Jim Bunning Quotes
We must send the message that if you use illegal drugs, you will pay the ultimate price by not playing an entire season. And if you get caught again, you will be banished for life.
Bunning, Jim. "Restoring Faith in America's Pastime: Evaluating Major League Baseball's Efforts to Eradicate Steroid Use." Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate, U.S. Government Printing Office, 28 Sept. 2005.
The reason that this is a noteworthy quotation is that it illustrates a problem of alcohol and other drug prevention. Specifically, the “fact” that is the message of the billboard is not correct and exaggerates the danger. The general problem is well-intentioned but inaccurate and misleading information provided to the public. When the public, especially young people, discover that the government or the other organization urging the public to eschew drugs is not telling the truth, they not only tend of disbelieve all anti-drug messages and believe that the warnings given are just part of politics or prudish elements of the society. In this case, many young people and adults have seen or know people who were heroin addicts and are no longer. They are not hooked for life. Worse, a single dosage of heroin does not per se inevitably cause addiction. There have been people who used heroin once, continued to use and became addicts. But there are many more who have tried heroin once or twice who did not become addicted. The real risk is that if someone tries heroin once, he/she may become one of those who goes on and gets hooked. The billboard message is “WILL” and the truth is “MAY”.
James Paul David Bunning was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to have been elected to both the United States Senate and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
